Container for toy sets and the like



June 5, 1923. 1,457,361

A. c. GILBERT CONTAINER FOR TOY SETS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 17, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet l A. C. GILBERT CONTAINER FOR TOY SETS AND THE LIKE June 5, 1923.

FiledJan. 17, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Snow Ho's W 5, W

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Patented June 5, 1923.

UNITE m A E /OWE;-

ALFRED C. GILBERT, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE A. C. GILBERT 4 COMPANY, OF NEW; HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

CONTAINER .FOR TOY SETS THE LIKE.

Application filed January 17, 1921. Serial No. 437,808.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED' C. GILBERT, a citizen of the United States, residin in New Haven, county of New Haven,- tate 5 of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Containers for Toy Sets and the like, of which the, following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to containers for toy sets and more specifically to a container in which various objects are adapted to be packed for shippin anddisplay purposes and which is provided with means for receiving and detachably supporting the oh- 1 jects making up the set, so that the'same ma be readily removed from the container and replaced therein when desired.

Toy manufacturers now make a great many sets of articles which are adapted to be shipped and sold as complete units, such as chemistry sets, by means of which a number of chemical experiments may be performed, hydraulic sets, by means of which a great many experiments may be performed in this branch of physics, magic sets, by which tricks and sleight of hand work may be performed, and electrical sets, by which various electrical contrivances may be constructed, and many other similar sets. These sets all contain a great number of parts which are usually packed in a box or container of some kind for the purpose of shipping and selling. The parts of these sets have in the past been held by means of a cord, which was threaded through asupport and looped over the objects to be secured thereto. The one thread usually was passed or looped over all of the objects in the set, so that once the thread was loosened, all of the objects would fall out and could not be replaced securely in position without a great deal of trouble. It is Particularly desirable in devices of this kind to provide a container with such means to secure the parts of the set in place that the same will be wcurely held in position during the shipping .and handling of the set, and yet will allow the objects to be freely removed therefrom when the set is delivered to the user and with means into which the articles may -be replaced'after they have been removed for use and when their use is to be discontinued.

One object of this invention is to provide new and improved container for toy sets of the types described.

Another object of the invention is to prosets, and while securing the articles firmly in place, will permit of their ready detachment when it is desired to use the same.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved container fortoy sets, which will be economical to manufacture and will not materially increase the cost of the set, and at the same time will be capable of improved results in the we of holding the ob'ects firmly in place, an yet permit the rea y removal of the same.

To these and other ends the invention resides in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawin s:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of t e container for toy sets embodying my improvements with the cover removed therefrom Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the supporting member employed with the con- -vide means for securing separate objects to tainer showin the fastening means as they I Fig. 1, but showing the cover replaced upon the container and tion;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the support various articles in elevaing member showing the method of preparing the same for insertion into the container to receive the parts to be supported thereby.

While I have chosen to illustrate and describe my improvements as applied to an electrical set, it will bev understoodv that the invention is not limited to this type of apparatus, but may be used as a container for sets of other types or other objects which it is desirable to andle in a similar way. The container is shown at 10, having a cover 11 and containing a supportin member 12,

upon which it is found desira le to support face of the supporting member 12 from the bottom of the container 10. The supporting member 12 may be formed of any suitable material, it having been found that cardboard or almost an thin material, such as sheet metal, is satis actoryfor this use.

This supporting member 12 is provided with various perforations, slits and openings of different shapes and sizes to accommodate the objects which are to be supported thereon. These are preferably arranged so that the objects may be supported therein for the most part without the use of a separate fastening means, and this is accomplished by making use of the shapes of the objects to be supported upon the member 12.

The objects to be packed within the container may consist of articles which have a reat variety of shapes and dimensions, but 1t is thought that these will be desirably illustrated by the articles shown in Fig. 1, which comprise a rectangular box 16, a lamp socket 17, a frame 18 for the field magnet of a motor, a motor base 19, an electro-magnet 20, an armature 21, gear wheels 22 and 23, a wire coil 24, a rheostat 25, a light bulb 26 and a motor frame 27. These articles are secured upon the supporting member 12 in various ways which will now be described.

The supporting member 12 is provided with openings 29 as shown in Fig. 5 which compnse a main portion 30, substantially circular in shape, and a smaller neck portion 31 which communicates with the main portion of the opening. The gears 22, as shown in Fig. 4, are provided with screws 32, the heads of which project from the bearing hubs 33 of the gears, which screws are made use of in securing these members to the support. These gears are mounted within the container by inserting the gear hub 33 and the screw head 32 through the :parts 30 and 31, respectively, of the openings 29, and then rotating the gear a partial turn so that the screw head 32 will no longer be in alignment with the neck 31 of the opening 29. It is seen that when the gear is in this position, the constricted portion of the same, which is represented by the bearing, will be embraced by the portion 30 of the opening, while the screw head forms a projection upon one side of the member 12, and the gear wheel a projection or enlarged portion upon the other side of the member 12 to prevent removal of the gear iece of material of the member from the support. When it is desired to remove the gear, it can, of course, be grasped by the fingers and rotated until the screw head is in alignment with the opening 31 and the same can then be readily removed from the sup ort. It will be apparent that this PI'OVI es a very convenient and satisfactory way of removably securing these members within the container. The gear 23 is secured inthe support in a similar manner.

The light bulb 26 is provided with the usual threaded plug 34, which is screwed into a circular opening 35 provided in the supporting member. The opening .35 is formed of such a size that its edges will be received within the threads of the portion 34 of the light bulb, and the thickness of the material of which the supporting member is made will serve as a cooperating thread to engage the threads on the member 34 and secure the light bulb tightly to the supportq;

The arinature 21 is secured to the support by the provision of the two rectangular openings 36 and 37, the former receiving the commutator 38 and the latter receiving the frame 39 of the armature,.about which the windings are coiled. The shape of this frame portion 39 is shown in Fig. 4. This frame consists of the three arms, each of which is provided with a neck portion having enlarged shoulders on the extremities thereof. The frame portion of the armature is inserted in the opening 37 by turning the armature so that one of the shoulders will be received within the opening and will pass to one side so that the other shoulder may then be passed through the opening. The frame is then allowed to drop to the position shown in Fig. 4, where it is seen it will be secured removably from the supporting member by a direct movement of the same. The armature may, of course, be removed by the reverse turning movement from that used in inserting it in position.

The magnet 20 is supported upon the member 12 by the provision of two rectangular openings 40 which receive the coils of the magnet and the U-shaped portion of the same is secured at its intermediate portion to its supporting member by means of a fastener or staple 41.

The frame 18 for the field armature is supported by means of the two staples 42 securing its arms to the supporting member while the collars 43 provided upon the body of the same are received in a slot-like opening 44, provided in the supporting member. The lamp socket 17 is merely secured upon the member 12 by the use of the two wires 45 while at 16 is shown a box or container which is received in a rectansupporting member and is clamped between the walls of this socket and the cover 11 of the container. This socket 46 is provlded by cutting out a portion of the supporting member of substantially rectangular shape, but leaving'a plurality of tongue members rojecting into the opening which has been ormed by the removal of thecutout=-portion. The "curved'sides ofthe motor base, as shown in Fig. 3, will rest upon the downwardly urged tongues 47, the resihency of which will tend to cause them to normally lie within the plane of the supporting member 12. It will be apparent that the motor base will, in this manner, be securely clamped between these resilient members of the socket and the cover of the container. The rheostat 25 is supported within a socket 49 provided in the supporting member in the following manner. The material of which the supporting member is formed is slit along the full lines 50, 51 and 52, and then folded along the dotted lines 53, 54, and 56. The resultof'these operations is that the parts assume the position shown in Fig. 3 where the portion between the dotted lines 53 and 54 forms a side wall 57 of the receivin socket and the portion between the dotted line 54 and the full line 51 forms a bottom member 58 of the receiving socket. The parts of the supporting member between the full line 51 and the dotted line 56 form similar wall and bottom members on the other side of the-receiving socket. The base of the rheostat is then inserted into this socket and is secured to the bottom members 58 of the socket by the fasteners 59. The rheostat is prevented by these fasteners from removal from the socket unless the parts 57 and 58 are removed with it. The removal of these parts is, however, prevented by the sides of the base of the rheostat which prevent an approaching movement of the walls 57 of the socket. It will be seen, therefore, that the rheostat will be securely and efi'ectively retained in the socket and yet may be removed therefrom by the simple expedient of the removal of the fasteners 59. A similar socket 60 is provided in the same way forthe motor frame members-27 but no fasteners are needed as the 'frame members are held in place by the friction of the sides of same against the downturned portion of the supporting member.

' The coil of wire 24 is suppored by the provision of two slots 62 and 63 which are connected by the slit'orcut 64 in the paper. This results in the provision of a projecting tongue 65 which may be raised about its hinged end 66 and the" coil slipped thereunder, the slots 62 and 63 receiving the sides of the same. The tongue 65 then slips back into position and the coil will be efiectively and removably retained in position in the supporting member.

ready to be placed in the container for the reception of the objects to be packed therein. There will thus be provided a, container for the various objects which make up this and similar sets which will be economical to manufacture, which will be readily assembled and in which the objects can be quickly placed and from which they may easily be removed when desired. The provision of such a container will result in a lowering of the price of the set as well as result ina great saving of labor in assembling the articles Within the container.

While I have shown and described a referred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the same is not to be limited thereto in all of its details, as various changes and modifications may be made which will lie within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a container for toy sets or the like, a supporting member provided with a pair of slots, the body of said member being cut therebetween to form a tongue, and an object, portions of which are received in said slots and held against removal by said tongue.

2. A container for toy sets or the like having side and end walls and a bottom, a cover therefor and a supporting member for objects, said supporting member being provided with a socket formed by cutting said member to provide tongues and bending said tongues downward and inward to form walls and bottom portions for the socket, the bottom portions of said socket resting upon the bottom of said container thereby supporting the side walls of said socket from displacement.

3. A supporting member for objects provided with a socket formed by cutting said member to provide tongues and bending said tongues to form walls and bottom portions for the socket, and an object secured to the bottom portions of the socket.

4. A supporting member 'for objects provided with an opening, tongues projecting into said opening, said tongues being bent to form wall and bottom portions of a socket and an object held between the wall portions, while resting upon the bottom'portions, by friction therebetween, said bottom portion retaining said wall portions against lateral displacement by being held down by said object. v

v to form Wa 5. A supporting member for objects provided with an opening, tongues projecting into said 0 ening, said tongues being bent ii and bottom portions of a socket, and an object seated in said socket and secured to said .tongues whereby the wall portions are retained in position to bear against said object.

6. A container for toy sets or the like having a cover and provided with a supporting member having an opening, tongues projecting into said opening, and an object seated on the projecting ends of said tongues and held in place by said cover due to the resiliency of said tongues pressing the object upward against said cover.

7. A container for toy sets or the like including a supporting member having a pair of slots cut therein parallel with each other and connected with a slit at one end thereof to form a tongue and an object having an opening therethrough to admit said tongue whereby the sides of said ob ject will lie within said slots and the object be retained upon said support by being held against removal by said tongue.

8. In a container for toy sets and the like, a supporting member provided with a pair of spaced openings lying substantially parallel with each other, a U shaped member having shoulders upon the arms thereof, said shoulders of the U shaped member abutting the ends and sides of said openings whereby said U shaped member is retained against slippage along the surface of said supporting member, and means extending through said supporting'member and about the base of said U shaped member to secure said member upon said supporting member.

9. In a container for toy sets or the like having a cover, a supporting member provided with two aligned openings, and an object having a plurality of radial arms, provided with neck portions, and also having a shouldered portion in alignment with said radial arms, one of said arms extending downward through one of said openings in said supporting member, said cover resting against another arm to retain the downwardly extending arm within said opening whereby said object is retained upon said supporting member.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand on the 14th day of January, 1921.

ALFRED C. GILBERT. 

